Bennington College Names Dr. Danielle Egan as Its 12th President

Dear Bennington Community:

I am pleased to share that Bennington’s Board of Trustees has selected Dr. R. Danielle Egan as the 12th President of Bennington College.

Danielle comes to us from Connecticut College where she serves as Dean of the Faculty and Chief Academic Officer, as well as the Fuller-Maathai Professor of Gender, Sexuality, and Intersectionality Studies. She is a prolific and widely recognized gender and sexuality scholar  whose research examines the social construction of sexuality, the cultural politics of gender, and the historical and institutional forces that shape norms of social and sexual acceptability. Danielle is a passionate teacher and has won awards for her teaching at three different institutions. 

Danielle holds both a PhD in sociology from Boston College and a PsyaD in clinical psychoanalysis from Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis. A high school drop out, Danielle found her way to higher education first as a community college student and later earned a bachelor’s degree from Goucher College. Her experience as an undergraduate fostered a passion for lifelong learning and a deep belief in the power of generative mentoring relationships. And in true Bennington style, Danielle does not restrict herself to a single discipline or approach: in addition to her sociological research, she is also a practicing psychoanalyst and a visual artist.

Over the past twenty five years, Danielle has helped to rebuild two departments and has supported faculty development in her work with Centers for Teaching and Learning at two institutions. She led a college-wide 3-year operational prioritization project toward fiscal sustainability and new budgetary processes, facilities and deferred maintenance, and new revenue streams. She conducted a data-informed self-study of the Dean of the Faculty Division which focused on the state of three interrelated areas: the curriculum; equity, inclusion, and belonging; and staffing and compensation. Working through structures of shared governance, Danielle authored six position papers and strategic plans on enrollment decline and impact on departmental curriculum, curricular realignment and integration, service burdens and morale, and equity, retention, and compensation. Even within a tight budget, she focused on professional development opportunities and created a new program for mid-career faculty members to explore new research directions and artistic endeavors. At Connecticut College, she worked on faculty equity issues such as shifting the titles and compensation structure for continuing non-tenure track faculty. 

This is a moment of great challenge and greater opportunity for Bennington and our peers. With leadership that highlights our singular history, values, and creative educational approach, Bennington will thrive. (And in a world in which humanity is in short supply, society needs Bennington and its graduates now more than ever.) I know my colleagues on the Board and the search committee agree that Danielle is the leader Bennington needs.

Our search committee, a majority of whom are Bennington alumni, was composed of board members, students, faculty, and staff. Today’s announcement reflects a diversity of viewpoints united in commitment to our College’s future. I am grateful to the committee for their dedication, and I congratulate them on a successful search. 

Finally, I wish to express deep gratitude to Elissa Tenny, who as Interim President guided Bennington through a successful admissions season and our national presidential search. Elissa’s love of Bennington was well known to many in our community before she returned to lead the College this past term, having served as provost from 2002 to 2010. Her contributions to (and fans at) Bennington are by now too numerous to mention.

I look forward to welcoming Danielle to campus in August. Until then, I wish you a restful and restorative summer.

Sincerely,

Nicholas Stephens ‘77
Chair
Board of Trustees